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2.01.2008

Sure, There are Other Things to Worry About

Right now I choose to let this bother me.

Text messaging culture.

Granted, I'm sure I sound like a dottering old Granny complaining about these kids and their rock-a-billy music. I am okay with that. I am worried about these kids and their text messaging. On many levels.

I am worried the young children growing up using text, shall I say, lingo, will never know how to form a complete sentence. I'm concerned not only for their parents and teachers, but their brains. I am worried that they will come to believe "How R U?" is actually a sentence. Instead of choosing words to express themselves, they rely on strange abbreviations. What if they never learn the real words?

A person could lose sleep.

Sure, this would be the same person that is deeply disturbed by creative spelling in advertising (Kountry Kookin' Kitchin', et. al.) and missing possessives in signage.

Maybe it's my own fear of losing my own vocabulary through Mom Brain, I don't know. I worry. I cringe. I shake my imaginary cane.

High-Horse Soap Box Disclaimer: I am by no means perfect. I make spelling and grammatical mistakes. Commas vs. semi-colons confuse me. However, I try to use the gift of language correctly. This text messaging vernacular really concerns me as it gradually permeates our communication. Sure, I take shortcuts and use abbreviations from time to time. I understand why they are helpful, they still bother me.

Have I hit a nerve? How do you feel about Text Lingo? Is there a solution?

19 comments:

Seriously. The best words in the English language cannot be condensed down into phonetic/number combos. But, I'm a seriously slow texter...I could probably send a note by USPS before I could text someone.

I also don't like very well Text Lingo but like in your country, lots of young french people are using it. What to do ? Really, I don't know. But I think that every young generation are doing things that the older generation don't approve. But we all change when we are growing up to looks like more to our parents attitude.

I don't like it. But, then again, I also use full words, full sentences and punctuation when I text, and I only text my husband! I sent him a text one day and I'd abbreviated a word because I was in a hurry and he called me and asked why I'd done that and said that he wasn't married to an illiterate teenager! It was rather funny.

What scares me most of all is texting while DRIVING- no I am not joking!! As the mother of 4 teens-(not really one is 20 now)I know teens are doing it! And frankly some are pretty darn good at it- but it doesn't matter they are DRIVING for pete's sake.

Texting has come in handy- a few times- when you can't say what you need to over the phone. Like the time when one of my teens was in an ackward situation & texted me..."mom, call & say I have to come home- now."That made me think that texting wasn't so bad.

I only learned how to text last weekend. And it took me 20 minutes to send something because I don't know all the cool shortcuts. It is all so bizarre to me. Makes me frustrated that I've fallen behind in technology, but pretty glad I'm too old for that!

The creative advertising spelling really makes my blood boil. I will never send my child to a preschool called Wee Wunz or Kidz R People 2. PUHLEEZE! Nobody is edumacating my offspring with that hootenanny!

I couldn't agree more. So annoying!! What is also annoying are the Captain Underpants books. Since you have a daughter you probably haven't see these. They are comic books that have words misspelled. Intentionally! Why would you do that when your target audience are kids who are just learning to read and spell??! Now they are learning it wrong!

I'll shake my imaginary cane with you! I think what really makes me cringe is not so much that teens or college students, or even twenty somethings for that matter, are texting their little thumbs out, but when I see a 40 year old try to do it just to be "cutting edge", I can't handle it. You see that a lot here in DC on the metro. It's ridiculous!TTFN

I HATE texting. I see these kids, heads bent over their phones and I think - YOU'RE USING YOUR PHONE TO TYPE A MESSAGE TO SOMEONE. Can't you use it to call and talk to them? And the lingo is the worst. Right there with ya, sista.

umm perhaps I shouldn't speak out loud... I text all of the time! so much easier to get a msg really quick to hubby, to child, anyone. I text husband throughout day (he's a drill instructor, won't talk to me in front of the recruits, but he will text), a child would text me to see if he can stay after school, etc, I love texting... don't know what I would do without it.